Regions of the Shire
The Shire was subdivided into several regions. Farthings The original parts of the Shire were subdivided into four Farthings ("fourth-ings" or "quarterings"): the Three-Farthing stone marked the point where the borders of the Eastfarthing, Westfarthing and Southfarthing of the Shire came together, by the Great East Road. The Northfarthing The Northfarthing was the least populated part of the Shire. This was the site of the historic Battle of Greenfields. *'Long Cleeve' was the home of the small part of the Took clan known as the North-Tooks, descendants of Bandobras "Bullroarer" Took, who settled here after the Battle of Greenfields. *The village of Hardbottle was the home to the Bracegirdle family of Hobbits, to whom Lobelia Sackville-Baggins belonged. Some maps erroneously place Hardbottle in the Southfarthing. The Westfarthing The western and most populated part of the Shire, this was the location of the towns Michel Delving, Tuckborough (part of Tookland), and Hobbiton. *'Michel Delving' was the chief town of the Shire, located in the White Downs. Its name means simply "large excavation". The Mayor of Michel Delving was the only elected official of The Shire, elected on a seven year term. *'Hobbiton' was the village where Bag End was located. This was the home of Bilbo Baggins and later Frodo Baggins. Sam Gamgee and his grandfather, the "Gaffer", lived on the lane of Bagshot Row, below Bag End. *Bywater was a village a short walk east of Hobbiton. It was best known as the home of two inns, The Green Dragon Inn and The Ivy Bush. The Southfarthing A rural and fertile area, the Southfarthing was the site of the towns Gamwich (original home of the Gamgee family), Cotton, Longbottom and much pipe-weed production. *'Longbottom', a name meaning "long valley", was founded by Tobold Hornblower with the introduction of pipe-weed, in TA 2670, allowing the region to become well established due to the success of the pipe-weed industry. The Eastfarthing The Eastfarthing bordered the region of Buckland, and contained the towns Frogmorton and Whitfurrows as well as the farms of the Marish. Originally, the Eastfarthing was under the control of the Oldbuck family. Even after these became the Brandybucks, the farmers of the Eastfarthing followed the Brandybucks rather than the Thain and Mayor. *'The Yale' was the name of the low-lying lands of the Shire's Eastfarthing that lay along the northern side of the long road from Stock westwards to Tuckborough. This seems to have been a sparsely populated area, and in fact the map of the Shire in The Lord of the Rings marks only a single building here. **The meaning of the Yale's name is obscure. The well-known English personal and placename "Yale" has its origins in a Welsh expression meaning "fertile upland." Its use may suggest that the Hobbits who named it had contacts with "strange" languages, possibly those of Dunland. *'The Marish' was the name of fertile, yet boggy farmlands located in the Shire's Eastfarthing. It was where the Oldbuck family was believed to have lived before Gorhendad Oldbuck removed the family across the Brandywine to Buckland and changed their name. Other parts of the Shire The Buckland and Westmarch are sometimes reckoned part of the Shire, though they are not part of any Farthing. Buckland was described in Chapter V A conspiracy unmasked in Fellowship of the Ring as being "virtually a small independent country.. a sort of colony of the Shire." Westmarch became part of the Shire only after the end of the events portrayed in Lord of the Rings, in the fourth age. Buckland Location, villages and borders Buckland was located east of the Baranduin (Brandywine) river. The hobbits living in Buckland grew the High Hay, a hedge, to protect themselves against evil from the nearby Old Forest, which borders Buckland to the east. Buckland was bordered in the north by the Hay Gate, the only entrance to Buckland near the Brandywine Bridge. In the south the borders of Buckland followed the High Hay until the Withywindle joined the Baranduin near the village of Haysend. The most important town of Buckland was Bucklebury where Brandy Hall was located, home of the Master of Buckland, one of the important officials of the Shire. An important landmark was Bucklebury Ferry, a raft-ferry used as the second main crossing point of the Brandywine River from the Shire to Buckland, after the Brandywine Bridge (which was twenty miles further south). It was apparently left unmanned to be used by hobbit travellers as needed. En route to the new house at Crickhollow, Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin crossed using the Ferry just before the arrival of a Black Rider, who was forced to go around to the Brandywine Bridge as there were no boats kept on the western bank of the river. (In the film version by Peter Jackson, the encounter is more immediate.) History and Culture Buckland was settled around TA 2340 by Gorhenhad Oldbuck, the ancestor of Meriadoc Brandybuck. Gorhendad Oldbuck thus became the first Master of Buckland. He renamed himself Brandybuck, which remained his family's name. Because Buckland was east of the Baranduin it was not part of the land given to the Hobbits by King Argeleb II of Arthedain. It was thus not part of the Shire proper until the beginning of the Fourth Age when King Elessar made Buckland and the Westmarch officially a part of the Shire. The Bucklanders were unlike other hobbits as they were prepared for danger and are thus less naive than the Shire-hobbits. They closed the Hay Gate and their own front doors at night and were prepared to rush to arms when the Horn of Buckland was blown. Most Bucklanders were originally of Stoor stock, and they were the only Hobbits known to use boats. The Westmarch After the events of the War of the Ring at the start of the Fourth Age of Middle-earth, King Aragorn Elessar granted the Hobbits of the Shire effective self-rule inside his Reunited Kingdom, banning any men from entering the land. He also granted the Shire a stretch of new land: this reached from the ancient western borders of the Shire, the White Downs, to the Tower Hills. The area between the downs and the hills became known as the Westmarch. The eldest daughter of mayor Samwise Gamgee, Elanor the Fair, married Fastred of Greenholm, and they moved to the Westmarch. After the passing of master Samwise, they and their children became known as the Fairbairns of the Towers or Wardens of Westmarch, and the Red Book of Frodo and Bilbo Baggins passed into their keeping, becoming known as the Red Book of Westmarch. Governmentally, the Westmarch was a region of itself, and like Buckland across the river Brandywine it was not part of any of the four Farthings of the Shire. Category:Regions of the Shire Category:The Shire